An anonymous reader shares a report: Rockstar refuses to let GTA Online die, and why would it when it’s one of the company’s biggest moneymakers? If you haven’t played GTA 5’s online component in a while, today’s update may convince you to step back into the world of San Andreas. Rockstar is adding a new competitive racing mode to GTA Online…
Tag: Customs
French Court Clears Social Media Tracking Plan in Tax Crackdown
France’s government can pursue plans to trawl social media to detect tax avoidance, its Constitutional Court ruled last week, although it introduced limitations on what information can be collected following a privacy outcry. From a report: The new rules, part of a broader law on tax changes passed by the lower house of parliament earlier this month, add to the state’s…
Trump Administration Drops Plans For Mandatory Face Scans of Citizens
schwit1 shares a report from U.S. News & World Report: The Department of Homeland Security is dropping plans to propose a regulation requiring all travelers — including U.S. citizens — to have their photos taken and faces scanned by facial recognition technology when entering and exiting the country, according to multiple reports. The proposed rule was slated to be issued in…
Lessons From the Cyberattack On India’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant
Dan Drollette shares an article by two staffers at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. “Indian officials acknowledged on October 30th that a cyberattack occurred at the country’s Kudankulam nuclear power plant,” they write, adding that “According to last Monday’s Washington Post, Kudankulam is India’s biggest nuclear power plant, ‘equipped…
GitHub Faces More Resignations In Light of ICE Contract
TechCrunch reports that another employee, engineer Alice Goldfuss, has resigned from GitHub over the company’s $200,000 contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). From the report: In a tweet, Goldfuss said GitHub has a number of problems to address and that “ICE is only the latest.” Meanwhile, Vice reports at least five staffers quit today. These resignations come the same day…
Now Googlers Are Protesting Company’s Cloud Deals With Big Oil
Activists inside Google are calling on management to ditch deals with oil and gas companies, the latest flare-up inside the technology giant. Bloomberg reports: In a letter published on Monday, more than 1,100 workers asked Google Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat to release a “company-wide climate plan” that commits to cutting carbon emissions entirely. The letter also asks Google to drop…
Developer Takes Down Ruby Library After He Finds Out ICE Was Using It
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: A software engineer pulled a personal project down after he found out that one of the companies using it had recently signed a contract with the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The engineer, Seth Vargo, cited the ICE’s “inhumane treatment, denial of basic human rights, and detaining children in cages,” as the…
Feds Order Apple and Google To Hand Over Names of 10,000+ Users of Gun Scope App
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Forbes: Own a rifle? Got a scope to go with it? The government might soon know who you are, where you live and how to reach you. That’s because Apple and Google have been ordered by the U.S. government to hand over names, phone numbers and other identifying data of at least 10,000 users…
US To Collect Social Media Profiles From Immigrants, Asylum Seekers, and Refugees
The Department of Homeland Security plans to expand its social media profile collection program from US visa applicants to also include data from immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. From a report: The DHS published a notice on the federal registry describing its future data collection practice this week. The agency plans to ask immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees to provide usernames…
The Missing Piece of Amazon’s New York Debacle: It Kept a Burn Book
When Amazon scrubbed plans to build a second headquarters in New York City earlier this year, the reason appeared rooted in a debate about unions, tax subsidies and housing costs. Then there was the burn book. [Editor’s note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source.] The Wall Street Journal reports: In a private dossier kept at the time, whose existence has…